The need for a new Queens Speech and opportunities to debate Brexit next week + in October either side of the European Summit

There are two issues that have been raised by the decision of the Prime Minister, as agreed to by Her Majesty the Queen: the need for a new Queens Speech, and an opportunity for parliament to debate any matters, including Brexit.

There is ample time for Labour, or other parties, to seek to stop Brexit or to introduce a Vote of No Confidence if they wish to do so. They could, for example, do this next Tuesday, when the House of Commons sits again.

Normally Parliament is prorogued each year in advance of a Queen's Speech. This particular session of Parliament has lasted nearly two and a quarter years – effectively the longest since the English Civil War. We are long overdue a Queen's Speech, and quite understandably a new Prime Minister, and a new ministerial team want to set out a new domestic legislative agenda. Genuinely, all of parliament, from across all political sides, have been waiting for a new Queens Speech since July, when the previous two-year 2017-2019 session ran out. For example, the Labour Leader of the House of Commons, Valerie Vaz MP, called for a new Queens Speech in June of this year in the Commons. For more details on this issue have a read here. 

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/parliament-and-elections/parliament/is-this-the-longest-parliamentary-session-ever/

What are the consequences of the decision in terms of parliamentary time as compared to the normal agenda? MPs will still return to parliament for the new session, which begins next Tuesday, and then break, for the party conference recess. Labour conference will be in Brighton, the Conservatives in Manchester the following week and so on. Again, any political party who wants to bring a vote of No Confidence can do so next week. For more details on such a situation have a read here.

https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/motion-of-no-confidence/

Party conference recess always happens under each and any government. In October, there will be the loss of 3 days business on the 8th, 9th and 10th October. If the Government were committing, as some have argued, "a constitutional outrage", they would be proroguing Parliament until November 1st to ensure that it did not sit between now and November 1st. This is not happening.

Brexit was due to take place on March 31st 2019. Shortly before then the UK Government and the EU27 agreed to delay the Brexit departure date until 31st October 2019. The next European Council is on the 17th and 18th October. The new Prime Minister has already met with President Macron and Angela Merkel and progress has been made to removing the backstop, which remains the chief hurdle to an agreed deal.

The Government has set out a clear timetable, which indicates that if a withdrawal agreement has been reached it would be debated and voted on 21st and 22nd October. This will still give time, both before and after the European Council, to debate Brexit and a potential new Withdrawal Bill. We have already debated Brexit repeatedly; I have voted on three occasions to leave with a deal. It is a matter of regret that Labour, and other opposition parties, have repeatedly blocked the United Kingdom leaving with a deal. It remains both my, and the Prime Ministers, desire for an agreed Deal by way of a Withdrawal Agreement with our partners in the EU.

For too long the deadlock in Parliament has taken the focus away from key domestic issues and I am delighted that Boris Johnson has set out such a bold policy agenda for more police on our streets to tackle violent crime, levelled up school funding, and that the NHS continues to secure the extra £20 Billion it has been promised by this Conservative Government. I accept that not everyone agrees with the result of the 2016 EU Referendum, but I am a democrat and I believe we need to leave the EU and abide by the decision of the Referendum, in light of the assurances given by all political parties, and MPs, both before and after the referendum. I am also of the view that the British people want Brexit sorted and their Government to focus on the domestic renewal of our country.

As Queens Speech debate ends - pls read my friend + fellow MP / Dr Phillip Lee's brilliant + v funny speech seconding the Loyal Address

"I was surprised to have been given the privilege of seconding the Loyal Address this afternoon. I am not, for example, the son of a bus driver, although my father did once drive a milk float in the constituency of my hon. Friend Mr Baker. Just as an aside, why is it always the case that we have to wait so long for these sons of bus drivers, and then two come along at once?

It might be my education. I am, like the Leader of the Opposition, an ex-grammar school boy and like him, I gather, I rather screwed up my A-levels, so perhaps there is hope for me yet. Or it might be my extensive experience of PR before entering politics. As the House knows, I am a practising doctor. Unfortunately, in a medical context, PR does not stand for public relations, but is shorthand for the type of examination that involves putting on rubber gloves, applying gel and asking a man to cough. May I give my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister a little advice? If, in the future, he finds himself speaking at a medical profession dinner, under no circumstances should he tell the audience that in his life before politics he was into PR, and that he found the work very stimulating.

Many of my predecessors in this role have had a reputation for humour, so I think that it was courageous of the PM to ask a doctor to second the Loyal Address. As the House can already tell, medical humour is a famously acquired taste, and it would be all too easy to share some of the stories of which every doctor has an infinite supply—many may not be appropriate for this place and its refined audience. However, I can perhaps report on the lady who complained of, as she put it, a history of “erotic” bowels. I resisted the temptation to ask whether her erotic symptoms were erratic in nature. Or the elderly man who said that his secret for looking so healthy was to do Kama Sutra exercises every morning, only to be corrected by his wife: “Gareth, I think you mean Tai Chi!” If colleagues do not think that I deliver this speech very well today, just be grateful that we are not holding this debate at a weekend, when I understand from some that doctors do not perform as well.

I had hoped that my medical background would be an advantage in politics, but I have been disappointed. My first disappointment came when I stood for election as the Conservative party’s candidate in Blaenau Gwent. I am not sure that Nick Smith is with us today, but I am sure he would agree that sporting a blue rosette outside the Tredegar Kwik Save takes a certain type of character: mostly delusional, and perhaps even masochistic. In fact, the president of my constituency association, Mr Rob Stanton, was elected to Wokingham Borough Council with more votes than I received at that election. However, I was able to comfort myself with the fact that my modest 816 votes nevertheless represented the biggest swing to the Conservative party of any candidate in Wales that night. In retrospect, I should have taken more note of the lady in Abertillery market who, when I asked her why she supported Labour, replied, “Don’t you get complicated with me!”

Delivering this speech is, of course, really an honour for the constituency of Bracknell, which I am privileged to represent. It is a particular honour in this year of Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. The constituency has long-standing royal links. It is proud to host the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2012 and has trained successive generations of British, Commonwealth and international officers serving in Her Majesty’s Army and elsewhere around the world. My constituents also enjoy access to the extensive woodland of Swinley forest, which is wonderfully maintained by the Crown Estate. With its vibrant economy and town centre regeneration, the Bracknell constituency has a very bright future.

This is the 63rd Gracious Speech that Her Majesty has given since her accession to the throne. On this occasion, it is apt to look back to Her Majesty’s first Gracious Speech and at the changes that there have been since. The preservation of peace was the first emphasis in 1952. Our country was still recovering from war. The grandfather of my right hon. Friend Sir Nicholas Soames was Prime Minister. The nationalisation of iron and steel was the subject of heated debate. Slums had to be cleared and people housed. This led to the creation of new towns, of which Bracknell was one. Communicable diseases such as tuberculosis challenged our young health service. Abroad, closer unions were foreseen to cement the ties on which peace depended: with the United States of America, with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with the Commonwealth and with a recovering Europe.

The vision of the post-war political generation was a big vision: of a country that would never again suffer the insecurity and hardship experienced by those who had to pick up arms and fight for our existence; of every person being able to get a chance in life—of health, education and employment; and of a society that is fair, just and free, in which freedoms are earned because we value our country, our environment, our world, and in which rights are balanced by responsibilities, for each other and for ourselves; and, most importantly, to prepare for the future. Variations of this vision have guided successive Governments ever since, with varying degrees of success.

The generation Her Majesty addressed in 1952 had fought for that vision, displaying a deep consciousness throughout our nation that individual lives are fleeting: that we must take care of the world we inherit—conserve it—so that we pass something better to our children; that we achieve more by coming together with our neighbours, with our friends and with our former enemies by respecting our riches, and each other; and that humanity is the vital bond without which our society, globally and nationally, our communities and our families will disintegrate.

On a personal level, I am humbled by the experiences of that wartime generation. My grandfather was under fire at the age of 20, in the tail end of a Halifax bomber. I also recall caring for an 89-year-old Polish patient who was short of breath and experiencing angina. He had taken the time to put on a tie and a suit adorned with military ribbons, and he apologised for taking up my time. I asked him about his military experience. He told me that his village in eastern Poland had been overrun by the Soviets in 1939. He was deported to a Siberian work camp and, in his own words, wore the same socks for two years. He was handed over the British in 1942 in Baghdad, and fought with Montgomery’s 8th Army across north Africa and up the spine of Italy via Monte Cassino. When reflecting on his heroic story, I humbly ask whether my generation would display the same values, the same stoicism, the same modesty, the same courage, and the same respect for others, and I recall his loyalty to his adopted country.

The closest I have come to fighting has been as a doctor battling ageing, obesity and the challenges of cultural dislocation. In the course of Her Majesty’s reign, life expectancy has increased by a decade. The percentage of people aged over 85 has grown by a factor of five. The world’s population has virtually trebled, and our own has gone up by a third. The proportion of our population of foreign birth has more than trebled, albeit from a low base. It is clear that we must not only treat the symptoms of the challenges that come with such marked change, but strive to cure their causes. That is why this Government’s commitment to helping to improve the life chances of those who have the misfortune to be born or raised in circumstances over which they have no control is admirable and right.

The generation Her Majesty addresses today must rediscover the values of the past to face an ever-accelerating pace of change. It is a world that is more connected and more conscious of its differences, but also more conscious of what we have in common than ever before. This time, we have the opportunity to rediscover those values peacefully, and the important legislation outlined in this Gracious Speech will help us to do so. The challenge of overcoming extremism without compromising our humanity is one that deserves the support of the whole House. My right hon. and good Friend the Home Secretary knows that dealing with our society’s failure to integrate some communities will be integral.

The space industry received the attention it deserves as one of Britain’s most successful industries with a power to inspire that is unmatched. I am sure that all members of the previous Parliament recall that I mentioned the UK space industry in my maiden speech in 2010. As British astronaut Tim Peake was a graduate of Sandhurst, I am shamelessly going to claim him as having been educated in my constituency. As such, I am concerned for his welfare. Tim is due back from the international space station just before the EU referendum vote, but if he is slightly delayed, and the country votes to leave in June, he need not worry about getting home, since the European Space Agency sits outside the European Union. Seriously, though, the Government’s support of the space industry will help to secure Britain as a globally recognised centre for high technology, whether we are inside or outside the European Union.

Finally, some hon. Members will know that I have kept my own counsel on June’s big European event, but the time is fast approaching when I feel I should make my position clear, if only to deal with the alarming possibility that as time moves on, I and other hon. Members who have taken a similar approach will have to deal with the advances of two charming men, one with blond hair and one with spectacles, approaching us in the Members’ Lobby to ask when we are coming out. I can see no good reason why we should exit—at least not before the semi-finals, and preferably not after the pain of extra time and a penalty shoot-out.

Keeping up with change is a tough enough job for any Government. Conservative Governments do not just want to keep up; they want to do better. That is why I am not only privileged to represent the good people of the Bracknell constituency, but proud to second this motion on the Gracious Speech."

Details of the future years business in parliament set out in yesterdays Queens Speech by Her Majesty

HM The Queen has delivered the Queen’s Speech 2016.

 

This is a One Nation Queen’s Speech from a One Nation Government. It uses the opportunity of a strengthening economy to deliver security for working people, increase life chances for the most disadvantaged and strengthen our national security.

 

Deliver security for working people

This is the next step in our long-term economic plan for our country. Whether it is continuing to bring the public finances under control so that Britain lives within its means; delivering the infrastructure that British business needs to carry on creating jobs; making our country a world leader in the digital economy; spreading prosperity across our country and building a Northern Powerhouse; or supporting aspiration by promoting home ownership, this is a Queen’s Speech that delivers on the Government’s promise of providing security at every stage of people’s lives.  

• Digital Economy Bill. To help create jobs, we will make Britain a world leader in the digital economy, with new obligations on broadband providers to make sure everyone in Britain has access to an affordable high speed internet connection. 
• Modern Transport Bill. This Bill will put Britain at the forefront of the modern transport revolution, so that we create new jobs and fuel economic growth around the country. It will include legislation to enable the future development of the UK’s first commercial spaceports and new laws to make the UK ready to pioneer driverless cars. 
• Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This Bill will reform planning and give local communities more power and control to shape their own area. That means we can build more houses and give everyone who works hard the chance to buy their own home. 
• Local Growth and Jobs Bill. We want to make sure every part of our country shares in our rising prosperity. This Bill is the biggest change in local finance for decades, giving local authorities full control of the money they raise through business rates, so they can attract business and investment to their local areas. It will include a transfer of up to £13 billion to councils through allowing them to retain 100 per cent of the business rates they collect.

Increase life chances for the most disadvantaged

At the heart of this Queen’s Speech are bold reforms that tackle some of the deepest social problems in our country and remove all barriers to opportunity. Giving children in care the best possible start in life, reforming our prisons; transforming the education system, and helping people save – this is a Queen’s Speech aimed at giving everyone in our country the chance to get on. 

• Children and Social Work Bill. This Bill aims to improve the standard of social work and opportunities for young people in care in England, so that we give all of them the hope of a better life. It will include changes to the considerations that courts must take into account in adoption decisions, tipping the balance in favour of permanent adoption where that is the right thing for the child, and new system of regulating social workers. 

• Education for All Bill. This Bill is the next phase of our transformation of education, extending the principles of freedom and accountability across the country so that we encourage excellence everywhere and give every child the best start in life. It will include new laws to expand the academies programme in the poorest performing local authority areas and a new funding formula to deliver fair funding for every school and pupil in the country.
• Higher Education and Research Bill. This Bill encourages the new universities that will help educate the next generation, so that we give more young people – from all backgrounds – the opportunity to go to university. It will include measures to make it easier for new high quality universities to open and new requirements on all universities to publish detailed information about application, offer and progression rates to put a spotlight on social mobility. 

• Prisons and Courts Reform Bill. This Bill represents the biggest reform of our prisons since Victorian times, ensuring they are not just a place of punishment but also rehabilitation, so everyone has the chance to get on the right track. It will include new powers for prison governors to allow them unprecedented levels of control over all aspects of prison management. 

• Lifetime Savings Bill. This Bill helps people to save and make plans for the future, so we build the financial resilience and security of people across the country – especially the young and those on low incomes. It will include the new Help to Save scheme and a new Lifetime ISA for young people.  

• National Citizen Service Bill. This Bill will see the expansion of the Government’s hugely successful National Citizen Service so more young people can mix with people of other backgrounds, and learn what it means to serve their community. 

Strengthen our national security

The first duty of Government is to keep our country safe.  So this is a Queen’s Speech that invests in Britain’s armed forces, secures the long-term future of our nuclear deterrent and gives our security and intelligence agencies the powers they need to keep us safe. 

• Bill of Rights. This Bill will support and reinforce Britain’s long-standing commitment to human rights and restore common sense to the way human rights law is applied. It will include measures to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework, and protections against abuse of the system and misuse of human rights laws.

• Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill. This Bill gives law enforcement agencies new powers to protect vulnerable people – including children – from those who seek to brainwash them with extremism propaganda, so we can build a stronger society around our shared liberal values of tolerance and respect.

• Criminal Finances Bill. This Bill will cement the UK’s leading role in the fight against international corruption, cracking down on money laundering and people profiting from crime, so that we root out corruption. It will include a new criminal offence for corporations that fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion.
• Policing and Crime Bill. This Bill is the next phase in our reform of the police, reforming out-of-date complaints and disciplinary procedures, so we increase public confidence in the people who keep us safe. It will include a new duty to collaborate on all three emergency services, to improve efficiency and effectiveness. 

• Investigatory Powers Bill. This Bill will fill holes in our security apparatus so that we give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to protect the public in the digital age, while building confidence in the public that powers are operated sensibly.

State opening of parliament by the Queen is tomorrow from 11.15

The pomp and ceremony is genuinely impressive. The full details are all televised by the BBC.
The substance is the details of the forthcoming legislation programme of the coming year. I am travelling down to Westminster today for meetings with DEFRA and others but will be in bright and early on Wednesday for the State Opening.

The bite sized version of the Queens Speech

Here are the key parts of the Queens Speech in short form
Care Bill

- A single statute on care and support.
- The right for carers to receive support from their local council.
- A cap on the care costs which someone can pay.[Dilnot]
- A legal entitlement for everyone to a personal budget for care.
The Bill will also include a legislative response to the Francis Report into the failings at Stafford Hospital:
- Ofsted-style ratings for hospitals and care homes.
- Power for the Chief Inspector of Hospitals to identify problems with the quality of care.
- A new criminal offence for providers to offer false and misleading information about their performance.

Pensions Bill

- The new flat-rate pension to replace the current two-tier system from April 2016.
- Bringing forward the increase in the state pension age to 67 by eight years.
- A system of automatic transfers for an employee’s pension pot to follow them when they change jobs.
- The Pensions Regulator will have a new objective to consider minimising any impact on the sustainable growth of employers.
- The amalgamation of bereavement benefits into the Bereavement Support Payment.

National Insurance Contributions Bill
- The £2,000 employment allowance for every business and charity announced in this year’s Budget.
- Measures to combat tax avoidance, including an extension of the General Anti-Abuse Rule, which targets aggressive tax avoidance schemes, to National Insurance Contributions.
- Further attempts to stop companies avoiding paying NICs using offshore employment payroll companies.
- Measures minimising the tax advantages for limited liability partnership members by ending the automatic presumption that they are self-employed when they are technically employees.

Deregulation Bill
- A duty on regulators of industries to consider the impact that their actions will have on growth.
- Council and housing association tenants will qualify for the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire after three years, down from five.
- Self-employed workers whose jobs don’t risk harming others will be exempt from health and safety law.
- Employment tribunals will no longer be able to make wider recommendations following successful discrimination cases under the Equality Act 2010.
- Councils will no longer need to produce assessments after designating air quality zones.

Intellectual Property Bill
- A Unified Patent Court, based in London, will introduce a single patent system across all EU countries.
- Clearer guidance for businesses on what is protected under design law. The aim is that this will aid innovation by making investment in the design sector safer. Similarly design ownership will be clarified.
- New criminal penalties for those who copy registered deigns.
- A new design rights opinion service will settle intellectual property disputes without litigation.
- Sharing of information between the UK and other patent offices on unpublished patent applications.

Draft Consumer Rights Bill
- Consolidates eight pieces of legislation in one place.
- Clarify areas where the law has fallen behind the pace of change, for example on e-books.
- Easier access to compensation for those affected by breaches of consumer and competition law. More powers for Trading Standards to require businesses to compensate consumers for breaches of consumer law.
- Deregulation for businesses and enhanced consumer protection.

Local Audit and Accountability Bill
- Closes the Audit Commission.
- Extends the council tax referendum provisions so that taxpayers can veto rises in council tax from local quangos.

HS2 Hybrid Bill / High Speed (Preparation) Bill

- The construction of the high-speed rail route and the compulsory purchase of land for it.
- Powers for the Transport Secretary to pay for design work and surveys of the land for HS2.
Energy Bill
- Help for consumers to find the best energy tariff, including clearer and simpler information on bills.
- Incentives for businesses and households to cut their electricity use.
- The power for the government to set a target range for the decarbonisation of the power sector.

Water Bill
- Makes it easier for new businesses to enter the water market and for water companies to buy and sell water from one another in order to cope with drought.
- Changes to compensation arrangements for those affected by water companies abstracting water in order prevent unsustainable practices.

Mesothelioma Bill
- A scheme for people suffering from the asbestos-related cancer to receive compensation payments if their employers cannot be traced.

Immigration Bill
- Bigger fines for businesses using illegal labour.
- Temporary migrants must make a contribution before being able to use the NHS.
- Private landlords will be forced to check the immigration status of their tenants.
- Illegal immigrants will not be able to obtain UK driving licences.
- Only cases raising the most important immigration issues will have the right of appeal.
- Limits on the use of Article 8 in immigration cases.

Offender Rehabilitation Bill
- Supervision after release for offenders serving custodial sentences of less than 12 months and an extension to supervision after release for offenders serving custodial sentences of 1-2 years.
- Drug-abusing offenders will be required to attend treatment appointments. Offenders can be tested for Class B as well as Class A substances.
- A new requirement for offenders to attend appointments or activities to support their rehabilitation. Offenders serving sentences in the community will need to seek permission before moving out of the local area.

Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill
- Six powers to deal with anti-social behaviour which combine 19 existing ones.
- Owning or being in charge of a dog that is dangerously out of control in a public place will be extended to private places too.
- An increase in the maximum penalty for the illegal importation or exportation of firearms.
- Forced marriage to become a criminal offence.
- A Police Remuneration Body will replace the Police Negotiating Board.
- Police and Crime Commissioners will have the responsibility of commissioning victims’ services.
- Implementing recommendations from Sir Scott Baker’s review on extradition.
- The Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate will inspect the Serious Fraud Office.
- The police will be able to prosecute uncontested minor offences of shoplifting.
- An extension of the witness protection scheme.
- Compensation for miscarriages of justice will depend on a new ‘clear innocence’ test.

Defence Reform Bill
- Large scale changes in procurement of defence equipment.
- An increase in the size and role of the Reserve Forces.

Queens Speech, Meeting with the Boss [political not regal] and a morning in Brixton Prison today

About to cycle to Brixton Prison where I will be meeting prisoners and seeing the work being done to try and improve the prison's outcomes and generally rehabilitate prisoners to prevent offending on release. Then back to Westminster for the pomp and ceremony of Queens Speech, which sets out the legislation that will the Coalition will try and bring through parliament this year. There is then a debate on its contents at 2.30, which will be robust as this is one of the few times that MPs can question the PM and the Leader of the Opposition. The debate on the contents of the Queens speech is then opened up to other MPs who will debate it over a period of several days.
I will be in the House until at least 10pm tonight as we have to vote then, but have to pop out of the chamber on several occasions, and will also be meeting Mark Harper, my political boss, who I have sorely neglected as a Parliamentary Private Secretary of late. Will definitely be spending more time on Home Office matters in the next few months.